Disclaimer: Not mine. sob Masashi Kishimoto owns, and he does a much better job than I could ever do.

It's not because he's cute. I swear, that's not it.

He is cute, but that is irrelevant, really it is.

It's more the fact that he's...Bright. Bright is a good word for it. I'm not referring to his hair color, or the outfit he wears.

Orange is not a good color on blondes, but somehow he makes it work. Sort of.

The jumpsuit is unnecessary too, but so many things that he does are unnecessary. He does them anyways. Because he cares.

That's why. Because his heart is big enough to hold an entire village full of people and still make me feel like I am the only one he cares for.

Do you know how hard that is?

I can't do it. I still can't find love in my heart for all the people who shunned him when he was a child...Me included.

Yes, I hate myself sometimes. Whenever another stuck-up genin thinks that being a demon-container is a cheat, whenever another elder looks at him with disgust and crosses to the other side of the street.

It hurts.

But then he looks at them with that light in his eyes and I know that he loves them anyways.

I'm lucky. I know that every time I see him do another amazing, magnanimous, or just plain crazy feat of pure goodness.

I'm lucky because out of all the pretty girls, he picked me.

Of course, I still don't think I'm pretty, but every day when he tells me I'm beautiful, a little bit of the bitterness goes away. That is part of his gift, part of the brightness.

I cannot be stronger than him. No one can. But one day I hope that if he ever needs me, I'll be able to look at him and know I can help.